Nurses seek to reduce long hours and fatigue

Operating room nurse John Kauchick says he's worked 17-hour shifts and once stayed on the job for 23 hours straight – risking fatigue that could lead to medical mistakes. Now the American Nurses Association seeks to reduce such risks with a new set of recommendations spelling out the dangers of nurse fatigue and ways employers can reduce it. The group is spreading the word to nurses and health care facilities across the USA. "With truck drivers and airline pilots, they'll pull the driver out of the truck or the pilot out of the plane" to avoid fatigue, says Kauchick, a traveling nurse who works mostly in Texas and New Mexico.